That Morning
Oblivion Fanfic. Rate and Review Please
Anyway, since most of my other story got deleted I decided to work on something else in the meantime. Reviews welcome and encouraged
That Morning
"Did you hear?"
"Everyone is talking about it!"
"Is it true?"
"What's going to happen now?"
A new day is ushered in with anguish and turmoil. Rumors had spread in less than 24 hours of Emperor Uriel Septim's death. After all when an important person dies, let alone the emperor, everyone and their dead mother talks. Birds sang in the dead branches of trees and the rising sun broke the horizon and banished the morning mist. A female Lilmothiit shoved open the rusty gates of the Imperial City sewers with a piercing screech which was somewhat fitting of this tumultuous morn. She was wearing a roughly used and dented iron breastplate over the tattered and torn tunic that covered her bright orange fur. She staggered at the feeling of cool morning air and dropped the bloodied broadsword she was carrying before dropping to her knees and stared at the rising sun. The sun...she never thought she would ever see the sight of it again. The young girl's name was Ilana. She was yet to reach 15 years of age and she had already endured the cruel pain of wrongful imprisonment....
* * *
"Don't worry." Ilana's eyebrows slipped upward. The Kajiit only rolled his eyes in response. "Listen," he said, "if we're going to survive we have to do this no matter what. You hear me?" Shaking herself, she nodded her acquiescence and he smiled. "Good." The stink of mold and rotting food tortured her sensitive nose. Her friend only snickered before looking over the barrels they were hiding behind.
"Alright." He turned his yellow eyes back towards her. "This is it," he whispered. "It's all or nothing. Remember that!" Doubt once again pulled at Ilana's mind, clouding her judgment and her senses. The floorboards above their heads creaked under the weight of the people above. Frequent strings of cursing were muffled the layer of wood and the constant steps of the men above. Unbeknownst to the both of them one had already drawn the blade that would set this all into action.
Slowly the two of them stepped out from cover and slid along the cold stones of the cellar towards the stair case upstairs. Ilana's hand slipped into her small cloth belt pouch and fiddled with the lock picks inside. As her friend had said, this was it. The kajiit tried the handle on the reinforced door to no avail and cursed. "Ilana, you're up." She nodded. The men's vocalization grew in intensity as she pulled out one of the lock picks and guided it into the small hole and started to fiddle with the mechanism. Her ears pricked up in concentration and her orange tail lay curled around her feet as she focused on the moment.
Her friend's own ears flicked at the ruckus coming from one of the rooms. "Sheesh," he said rubbing his forehead, "sounds like they're going to kill each other." He laughed. "That would make it a lot easier for us now wouldn't it?"
A 'shush' was all that he received from his vulpine friend as she licked her lips. An almost inaudible click made smiles appear on the muzzles of the pair. Ilana's friend placed a paw on her shoulder for a job well done as she placed the lock pick back into the leather pouch. He reached over Ilana's shoulder and tentatively gave an experimental push. The door made the loudest squeal that the two of them had ever heard. Panic rushed over the two as the voices stopped. Ilana's ears pricked up to their fullest to hear what the owners were doing.
"What the hell was that?" one of them said to her extreme horror. "Sounded like something in the cellar." The sound of drawing swords met her ears as her eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"Quick!" her friend hissed, "duck behind here." He pointed over to stone container used for keeping perishable meats. She shuddered but would rather face lying face to face with almost anything now than being dead. Heavy footfalls could be heard nearing the door and, seeing that her friend had already hidden inside, she followed his lead. The meats beneath them made an audible squish as she jumped in and hastily put the stone cover over the two of them. Her friend shivered. There was also ice from mages in the container as well. Combined with the stone it was, too make an understatement, rather cold. His teeth started to chatter and she shoved her numb paw over his muzzle.
The cellar door opened with another trademark squeal and she could hear a man's heavy breathing outside despite the thick stone. "Dammit. I know I heard something besides that lout's bullshit." Ilana closed her eyes and prayed to the Nine that they wouldn't be discovered. This was not to be however. The unknown man suddenly kicked the stone cooler in his intense fury hard enough to shake it and jolt Ilana into giving a yelp of surprise.
"WHAT THE HELL?"
Many things happened at once. Ilana, completely scared out of her wits, sat there while her friend hissed and pushed off the stone cover while simultaneously pulling his dagger from his belt. Light ripped through the darkness of the tomb causing Ilana to recoil. Her friend, although much more sensitive to such things, ignored it and went at the shocked imperial with claws and metal. The imperial struggled to react faster than the cat and only managed to bring up his sword to block the dagger while the claws ripped through the flesh of his face. The man gave an cry of pain and sunk to the floor covering his face to the stem the free flowing red. Her friend went in for the kill when an arrow struck him in the back. His eyes went wide and slowly the light left them as he fell to the stones beside the screaming man. Ilana's eyes shifted towards the open door growing with terror in her eyes to see another man, this one a wood elf, with his bow drawn and another arrow pointed at her. Her fear filled mind finally snapped. Unconsciously she reached back into her mind for the power she knew was hidden within and grasped it. In reality her sharpened reflexes shot her arms up as a blood red glow emanated from her open paws. The wood elf's mouth dropped. It was last thing he did. The aura shot from her hands as a feral snarl formed on her muzzle. It curled around the elf securing his arms before fastening securely around his neck and wringing the life out of his body. Her paws twisted in the motion being carried out by the spell she had performed. The elf's neck snapped with a sickening crack and blood ran out of his mouth and onto the floor.
Slowly the spell disintegrated and left Ilana feeling faint and fragile. Yet she knew she couldn't rest. She knew she had to leave; to escape. But no. It was a foolish predicament. The world swam to her sky blue eyes and she collapsed onto the side of the container before her weight pulled her onto the dirty stone floor. She landed with an unreassuringly snap. Great, she thought. Wonder what...I...broke this time.... The world around her went black except the smell of iron. That too would leave her soon after.